There’s just something about 80s pop music that does it for me every time. There are so many good ones, though, it can be easy to forget your favorites. Here are some pop songs from the year 1981 that still sparkle every time we hear them on the radio.
“Physical” by Olivia Newton-John
“Physical” not only gave Olivia Newton-John 10 straight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, but it also gave her a new, more sensual image to replace her long-standing good-girl persona.
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“I surprised myself,” she told Dan Rather. “After I’d recorded it, I kind of had a freak out. I called Roger Davies [her manager], and I said I think I’ve gone too far. I think this song is going to be taken the wrong way, and I think we should not release it. He said, ‘It’s too late; it’s out, and it’s doing really well,’ and it went No. 1 for like 10 weeks…”
“Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes
This song was inspired by Bette Davis, an American actress who starred in several films from the 1930s. After this song was released, Davis, who was in her 70s at the time, actually sent the writers, Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, as well as Kim Carnes, letters expressing what the song meant to her. “Bette Davis Eyes” also went on to win Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year at the Grammys in 1982.
“Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police
This song literally sounds magical. Sting’s wife, Trudie Styler, whom he had an affair with before marrying, was the inspiration for this song. Styler and Sting’s ex-wife, actress Frances Tomelty, were best friends before she and Sting got together. As Styler revealed to The Guardian, the affair definitely wasn’t the easiest thing to go through.
“It was the least ideal situation you can imagine,” she shared. “Neither of us are proud of a situation that happened — it just happened. We loved each other and we lived together and then we got married and we had more kids. And that’s our life story.”
Photo by: Ron Eisenberg/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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